Week 7

This week I update on how Pippa is getting on, what I have been doing with Merlin.  How the golf is going.  

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Hi everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of Catherine Lorman's Guide to Life Podcast, which are we on week six, is that right? I probably should have checked this, shouldn't I? Uh before I actually started the podcast. Hang on. I'm gonna have a look now. Week, hang on, uh last seven days, episodes week seven, we're on week seven, because you had checked, wasn't it? Week seven, I know, professional as ever, obviously. Um, I have actually prepared in advance. I know surprisingly enough, I surprise myself sometimes. Um, I haven't tested the microphone, but I'm checking the buttons and they're not on. Um, I managed to do some silent ones just in case uh you kind of wondering what I'm talking about and listening to the first time. Hope you guys had an amazing week. Again, shout out. I've had a few people, a few regular listers that um have had operations uh this week. So hope um everything's going okay or last week. Hope you're feeling okay, hope everything's going okay. Um, and you know, shout out for you and hope you recover quite quickly. Now, uh, so teenager, teenager update, right? What's going on, right? So we went off to the Edinburgh Fringe. Um, and apparently it transpires that I may have said some things that upset her slightly. Um, I don't know what they were, and she hasn't told me. But I basically, but it's like, how do you, you know, it was it kind of it kind of came via my partner, John. I was like, well, how do you deal with these situations, you know, because at the end of the day, it's like I'm in a relationship with John, um, but then there's also he has a teenage daughter. Um, and so it's like who she doesn't have a parent, doesn't have a mother. Um, and it's like, well, what is our relationship? And we're kind of like, you know, working that all out, really. And what do we want it to be? And we haven't even asked that question. I don't know what she wants, and she doesn't really know what I want because we haven't communicated that fact. Um, so but we are gonna have some kind of a relationship because obviously we're kind of a little family unit, so it's all a little bit strange. And I so I thought I'll send you a message. So I sent a little message and I was like, you know, you know, there are gonna be things that you don't like about me, and vice versa. And it's like, let's just like, you know, talk about it because people don't communicate enough, and half of the problems are caused because people don't say what's on their mind and stuff. And I was like, and the best way to deal with anything like that is just to make a bit of a joke about it, um, you know, because you're kind of breaking it all down then, and it's not too serious and doesn't become too much. So um, and then the next night we actually um John had gone off and he was away for a couple of days, and we actually, you know what? We sat down in the living room um and we had a fantastic chat. It was great, um, really, really nice. And I just thought, do you know what? I'm really lucky. She's such a great person, um, and she really is really nice, and she's really strong, and she's really feisty um kind of person, and you know, and she goes out and she does things. Um, and I do know what it's just great. Um, I thought, you know what, I'm actually really lucky that she is who she is, and but she's gone off to the festival, okay, and they have taken a trolley okay, and it was nice actually, because um she hasn't done, she said I've she'd done a bit of of camping, but not a lot, and I've done loads of camping. So I was like, right, okay, have you got this, have you got that, have you got this? And we you know got some things together. So and she got most of this up as something she hadn't thought about. So anyway, I'm hoping um despite the fact it is uh currently chucking it down with rain and shall I've had to put the tent up um in the dark. Um hopefully she's had a good time. Uh I'm also making an effort to text more as well. I thought I haven't done that enough. Um, actually. So hopefully she's it's all okay. Um and and everything's fine. You know, so it's you know, it's just yeah, it's nice and it's good, and it's kind of like right, okay. So um needs to kind of engage more really and make more of an effort to try and develop a relationship with with her. Um, right, so John, what was he doing? Uh well I haven't really seen any more week, to be fair. Uh we came, we went to the caravan last weekend. Um, yeah, did I tell you that? No, because that was the weekend before. I don't went to the caravan last weekend. Um you can lose track of time. We're we're never here. Uh we went uh did golf. I was quite pleased actually, very, very happy with my golf. Um so yeah, I'll tell you about that at the end. And um he went, you know, I was really really good, really pleased with it. Uh so yeah, so um, and he's yeah, so then he went he went off and then he went back to the caravan with a couple of mates and they went and played golf somewhere else. Um, so I've probably seen over the past I would say Tuesday, Wednesday, where we're now Thursday, three days, I've probably seen him for about 10 minutes anyway. Um he got back and he's like, Did you miss me? And I was like, honestly, I said, No, you've only been gone a day and a half, right? And he's gone off again. He went off this morning. I saw him for about two minutes this morning, and then literally his friends came to call and he wasn't even back yet. So I was like, Hi friends, you know, he's not back yet. And he's like, Can you come out and play? So he's gone off to play. I don't know what they're doing with his friends. Dread to think what time he'll be back, but there we go. Uh that's that. It's all, you know, all sorted. Um, no clue where he is, but it's fine, I'm sure it'll be fine. Uh um so it was like, you know, and actually he said, you know what? Sorry, when I said you know, um, no, I haven't missed you because it's only been a day and a half. And he said, you know what? He said, I think that's the right answer. I was like, Yeah, so because if I was like, I only missed you, it you know, I'd be really needy and clingy. And I've been too busy doing my own things as well. I mean, I've been working quite a lot, um, you know, all kind of like going okay and you know, just yeah, working quite a lot. It's quite a busy, been a busy, busy time. Um so uh yeah, and what what else did I do last week? So I met up with a friend called Die. Um, and when we well, in that you know, that's an it's not yeah, abbreviation of her name. When we went to um Jane and I went to the um South African Wild Horseback Safari, we kind of met up and we we met loads of different people, and some of them are fantastic, and I'm still in touch with some of them. One one um unfortunately, um, and I think she listens to this podcast, and she unfortunately lost her um her dad this week. So really sorry to hear that. I did kind of put that little message on, and um, and you know, it is she is really sad, and so I do feel for her um at the moment. Um, but we met this um lady called Di, who's from originally um Dutch, and she's now kind of living in South Africa. Um and she kind of was doing a bit of a tour around Europe, and you know, Jane's great, Jane's better than me. She's uh she said, I've been I've been messing anything, Dye, you know. Because she's been touring around Europe and stuff, and she's coming over to the UK. Do you want to meet up with her? So um she ended up staying at Dai's at um yeah, Jane's house, and then she came and she met Merlin, which was really, really nice. And then we went out for a really nice lunch and a bit of a catch-up. And you know what? That's really it's just you know, you know, you kind of don't really expect those things to happen. And she wanted a bit of advice, um, and being the Jane and I, you know, if you're gonna ask advice on a situation, okay, two people that you're gonna really ask are gonna be Jane and myself, aren't they? Okay, because if you think I'm outspoken, you haven't met Jane yet, right? You know, and we literally really are very, very outspoken the pair of us, and we'll just say it exactly how it is. Um, and so we just came out and said it exactly how it was, and was like, right, you know, a few red flags came up, and I was like, right, don't do this and don't do that, and don't get in that situation, and you know, do do this and do do that. Um, and sometimes it's nice, you need that kind of strong friend to go, right? No, what you're thinking, you don't want to do that. So we did that for Dye. Um, and uh, you know, she's got a lot going on at the moment. Uh hopefully I'm sure she'll be she'll be absolutely fine because she's um she's quite a strong character. Um, and I think one of the things sometimes, um, and this is a a kind of a thing that you you kind of blokes, you know, you want to know what's going on, don't you? Um, and sometimes you kind of think it all through and what's happening and what's not happening and what's is, and and then at the end of the day, sometimes you get to the point you go, do you know what? I just need to know what's going on. Um, and I'm at that stage as well in my life. There's something massive that's been going on. Um, and I'm like, I've got to the stage now. I actually it was today. I kind of like was thinking, right, okay, I need to, I need to share this with the world, I need to put this this out there, what's been happening. And um, I thought I'm gonna do it this weekend. And then uh someone at work I work with and she sat down with me and she's like, right. She said, What's happening with that? What what were they I've you know, what's what's going on? And I just went, I just told her loads of stuff, and I was just and she was just like, Wow, I'm surprised, I'm surprised you're not crazy by now, and you're really strong and really brave, were her exact words. Um, and I thought, and thought, you know what? Yeah, I said if I can tell you, I can tell the world what's been going on. So I'm gonna do that, okay? That is happening this weekend. Um, it won't be in podcast format, it might be in podcast format, it probably won't be. I'm gonna do it as a YouTube interview video, okay? Um, most of it's written in my head already. I just have to get it out of there um because I I just can't. It just there's lots of reasons, um, but but no, it's particularly important at the moment. Um, so uh so but it was but it's nice to catch up with diet anyway. So um, and that's a kind of thing as well. Sometimes you need to know these things, and you know I'm in that situation, but anyway, the pipper update um on health, how's she been doing? Well, she's not really been very well this week, actually. Um, after having the tablets, um, she went off to Granny's house room in Edinburgh, and granny didn't mention that she she leaked all over her uh her leather sofa. So I'm assuming everything was fine because I would have really heard back about that. Oh, she's leaked all over my leather sofa. It's been a right mess. I had to clean it, get some leather clean it. That's what would have that's what I would have been, and I'd have had a text message, you know, to tell me that. And I haven't, so I'm I'm assuming she didn't. Um, but so when Granny walks, obviously it doesn't go, they don't go very far, and they'll just go along a canal which is like quite flat. They won't do any hills or anything like that, and she'll only be out for about 20 minutes. But or they went and they took her to a little park and played bore with her as well at one point, or there was a field, there was a field as well, um, that's quite close to the house. They're they're turning it into community woodlands, which is nice. So I anticipate planning permission for a big housing estate following slightly after that, but there we go. Um, you know, it's fine, it's change pro progress, isn't it? You have to change things, and um yeah, so uh so I I took her for the for a walk in the same location. Now I have been in these fields for years, okay. I used to jump over the gate and ride my pony around them. Um, I've walked the dogs around them for years and years and years. Never in my life have I seen the pond empty, okay? And it is, it's empty. Pippinese never goes anywhere near it. Right, so she she went racing along the the drop the gr the dry kind of mud. Um, and then she slowly got into the bit where it was maybe still a bit mm wet and sticky, and she nearly like she nearly got stuck in the mud and was absolutely covered in this mud. So at which point I was kind of like, right, you're gonna have to go now, and um, you know, you're gonna have to go and in the pond. So I sent her in the pond and she was kind of nearly swimming, she doesn't really swim very well, and uh but yeah, um so so yeah, so I'll I'll kind of avoid that for the time being. Okay, so I I I have just heard back on uh update from the teenager the trolley broke, so they would have had to have carried the food and the tent, and it would have been quite quite heavy. So I do I am laughing. Um so anyway, I was like, hopefully it gets better from there. Um yeah, yeah, so I just thought I'd share that with you because it came through um you know, just well, mid-mid recording podcast, uh, and it came through. Yeah, so uh where was I? Right, Pippa, Pippa update, right? So uh yeah, so we and then what I noticed was that as soon as we got back, right, like two things happened. One, um, John's got an apple tree in his garden and Pippa went out and scoffed a load of apples that were on the ground. And two, um obviously she went for quite a long walk in the morning as per we've been as he's been doing, um, or I've been doing. And um and it happened again, and her legs went a bit funny, and her tail kind of went a bit funny, and I was thinking, I'm not really liking the look of this, it's a bit strange. Um and then oh no, sorry, that no, sorry, actually, yeah, I think that that think that was right, but it wasn't it wasn't to that extreme, it was your legs just went a bit funny and and we had leakage everywhere, and then we uh we we then we went off to the caravan and it was again flat surfaces, no apples. Came back and she had a load of apples again um because we hadn't well she rushed off into the dark and you know we didn't get time to pick them up, and then also the same thing again, and the same thing again happened, and it was more the tail was at a really weird angle. So anyway, I've I've made an appointment with vets tomorrow to kind of because I'm not I was kind of a bit scared, you know, concerned that it was spinal, because she has been you know rolling upside down on her back. And I know from my experience uh with horses that um if they you know my old horse used to do that, and it meant it turns out he had like after he'd been ridden, it turns out um he had something called kissing spine, which is when the kind of it's a bit like um slip disc in a human, same sort of thing. Um so I thought, right, so we'll minimise walking, so we've minimised walking, we're just doing shorter walks on a flatter surface. She's hanging out for about 20 minutes, and um she seems absolutely fine with that. And I'm also doing a bit of physio, so I'm picking up each leg for a c for about a minute and then putting it down because that kind of engages your core muscles and it's a bit of physio. Uh, and I might I'll have a word with the vet and see whether or not I should take her for some um, you know, for some hydrotherapy as well. Because you know, swimming is really, really good for that kind of thing, obviously no, because I've been doing my swimming. Went to swimming, managed to do one swimming this week. I was gonna do today, but I thought, no, do you know what? I'm just gonna come back and do my podcast. Um, because surprisingly enough, I've got quite a busy weekend planned um doing the thing that I'm twist talking about earlier on, uh, along with other things. Uh right, so Merlin, right, um, so we did uh worm count at the yard. Um what happens is um and the lady who looks after him when I'm not there very kindly did this, took like a little sample of his poo from the stable, shoved it in a pot, and it goes off for analysis. And they come back, and some people some of the horses have got like zero worm count and high worm count or low worm count. Merlin's had a medium worm count, um, which is usually about right for this time of the year. It's usually about that, and then you worm him and then it goes back down to zero or you know, or really low. So that's fine. Um, but what we used to do is in the inquestion world, we used to just like assume that all horses in the same field needed worming at the same time, okay? So we just used to do like a wormer, and now and now we've got something called worm resistance, where the worms are becoming resistant to the worm, strangely enough. So we're all being a little bit more scientific in the inquestion world, and we're all starting to do poo sampling and testing because there's no point testing your horse, okay, um, if it doesn't actually need worming. So, you know, it's not going to help with the situation. Um, what's interesting is is the horses that needed worming were not all in the same fields. You know, some of them, you know, some some were, and then some weren't. So I just thought that was really, really interesting. Um, because, you know, logically you would think that, you know, so it's it was just yeah, it was just really, really interesting. But then I suppose maybe thinking about it logically, if some of the horses have eaten the section which have got the worm eggs in, okay, then actually it'll be clean for the other horses, so they won't have eaten them. So actually, quite it's quite logical when you think about it that they don't all need worming. Anyway, so we had to worm that. And this is what I like about the yard that I'm on. Um, it was great. Uh so I was like just about to order some worm off the internet because usually you're kind of used to doing all the stuff on my own, and we got a WhatsApp message too, going, right guys, I'm going for worm. Um, you know, I was being added to a group, going for wormer, um, you know, on Thursday. Um, who wants some? If not, I need and you when you have to kind of like say your pony's name and the height and the weight and the age because you have to give this information in because it's a prescribed drug. Uh so uh yeah, so and I was like, oh that's great, you know. So I had actually done my order, it hadn't gone through, so I was like, yes, please, I can get that. And then she actually got it that day, which was great. Um, and so he got so he got a worm today, right? Um, yeah, if you ever I mean he is pretty good actually, you know, most people would probably put a head collar on to worm. I didn't bother because he is that well behaved. I just shoved the tube in his mouth. It's like a paste tube, and I just shoved it in his mouth. Sorry, that was the doggy alarm going off. I've no idea what they're barking at, but they've now both come up here with me, right? Just wait there then. Okay, so the grey one flash never comes up here, doesn't like fireworks. Um, sometimes, you know, so it's a bit of a strange day to be letting off fireworks, but if he's come up here and he's hiding under the desk, then it's clearly a firework issue. And um, so yeah, so I'll talk about that in a minute. Um, I was talking about the um Merlin Worm County. So yeah, um basically, and to cut long story short, Merlin then and I basically ended up covered in worm. I think I've got enough in his mouth. Um, yeah, so I want to talk about the the kind of fireworks as he's here. He's not really shaking, but he never comes up really to see me. Certainly not when I'm doing the podcast. Um, and usually um, yeah, see, Pippa isn't bothered by fireworks. Um not bothered at all being a gun dog, she probably shouldn't be. Um, but uh flash, different different kettle of fish. He gets really scared, doesn't like them at all. So I suspect that someone's either let either it's a car alarm going off, or you know, like you know the car backfiring, or um, it's a bit of a strange night to be letting off bonfire, uh firework. But anyway, that's happened before, um, strangely enough. Uh so someone's probably let a firework off and he's yeah, not very happy at all. He's come up here to be with me. So I do apologise if you hear my barking. That's the reason why. He's a little bit scared. And um, sorry, flash pants. We call him flash pants. Yeah, I don't know why, but we do. Uh so yeah, because usually if he was barking at the door, he would be barking downstairs at the door and he doesn't shut up basically. But no, if he's run up here, he's he's definitely heard a firework or a noise that he thinks is a firework. Um, yeah, so um so that's the worming dumb. That's that's it for Merlin's Worming. I've been working about 40, I'm gonna be working about 45 hours this week. So really short staffed at the hospital that I work at. Um so I'm kind of like, you know, and it was a kind of all cry for help. Are you available at all? And I was like, well, I'm only really available in these two days, but I can help you out. That's absolutely fine. I'll do that. Okay, so what else did I do? Did I do with um with Merlin? Um jumped to him in the arena. Okay, I haven't done that for ages. I think I did once, I did one jump about a week or so ago just to give it a go. But what I quite like it about where we are is they can they can they know what they're doing, these guys, they can seriously ride, okay, and the jumps are set up in a professional way, and they're what we would call related distances. So um, I think I might have talked about this before. There's certain amount of strides that you have to get between each fence. So I lowered them to Merlin level and we popped over. We did like I did one, two, three, did three, but I did them both ways each time. So I was really pleased with myself. We only had one kind of incident where or two incidents, one the first jump, and I realised I thought I'm jabbing him in the mouth, but it's not very nice, is it? So I made sure I jumped over next time with a bit of a looser rain, and then the second time, um I pushed him over uh some pink plaque planks they're called. They're like square pieces of like long, well, it's like a plank, really. It's straightforward, isn't it? Uh he's never jumped those before, he's only driven the round pole. So he was a little bit, oh, I'm not really sure about this, and he kind of knocked it over, but we got back on, got off and got back on, and we we jumped nose and he jumped them really, really nicely. So that was you know, that was that was quite good. Um hearing loss. Yeah, I'm losing my hearing. It's definitely going. Um uh and it's a bit scary. Um, given the podcast the other the video that I'm gonna put out next week. I'm still waiting for an appointment with ET. I do need to sort of chase that up. It definitely is still there because I have checked that bit, but I haven't actually phoned through to try and get an appointment. Um what's it like um losing your hearing? Well, it's frustrating, uh, if I'm honest. I'm having to ask people to repeat themselves quite a bit when I'm checking people in at reception. Um, we went out for a hack the other day, and I was I could only hear about 50% of the conversation, and people are shouting things to me uh across the yard, and I can't hear what they're saying, so it's noticeably a lot worse. Oh, it's all right, flashy. He's flopped at my feet, so he's definitely really scared. Um and then um, so yeah, so but there's nothing you can do about it, is there? You just have to kind of get on with it, really, get on with life. Um, absolutely nothing that you can do about this hearing loss, as frustrating as it is. Um, and I wanted to chat about vertigo as well, um, because so I have um constant tinnitus in my ear all of the time. I can't I've got used to it now, it doesn't really bother me that much, um, apart from when it's really, really loud, but it doesn't really keep me awake anymore at night, so it's just fine. Um but with that, um, sometimes I get vertigo, um, which is not great. Okay, so I have um this week um we went we went for a walk when we were in Edinburgh at the fringe up a little hill, and we were right on the edge for one of the points, and I was literally going, because I I keep having near falls where on a situation like that. Where I'm kind of falling to the to the direction of the dodgy ear. So it's an it definite ear imbalance thing. Um and then uh yeah, so this has happened to me before. Um it happened when I worked at a royal medical college. Um I had horrendous vertigo, okay, and this is possibly where it all maybe started. And that it was because um I suspected, I wasn't sure if it was the air conditioning blur on my ear, if I'm honest, or if it was the they had quite a low ceiling and they had low-level lights, and I wasn't sure if it was that, but I was I was pretty ill. Um, you know, I was okay until we moved into that new office, and then I was really, really ill. And uh we had it. So I sat down at reception, we've we've got some different people in. Sat down at a reception job, and I was like, and there's three lights that are a lot lower that aren't usually on. And about two hours into my shift, I turned my head and I just went, whoa! And it's just like a woozy feeling. I started feeling sick, I was like spaced out, I couldn't really, I was struggling to speak, um, and it was pretty awful. And I'm like, I know I was like, this was probably about we're talking, you know, maybe sort of six, six, half six at night. So I'm like teamsing my boss going, uh, how do I turn these three lights off? I've tried because there's a like a panel of light switches, and I was like, I was like, I can't, I tried everything and I was like, I can't turn them off. They're not no, I said I didn't want to leave them on. I was like, I don't want to tell her that I'm, you know, it's really, I'm really struggling with this. Anyway, I sent her, and then she's like, right, just WhatsApp me a picture of the the kind of the the the the switches and I'll tell you which one it is. So I did that and I did that, and she told me which one it was, and it was a funny switch that you had to kind of click on and off several times before it eventually went off. Anyway, so uh I then sat her back and thought, I better tell her about my vertigo because it's kind of a potential near-miss dodgy thing. So I was like, right, thanks very much. But it triggered my vertigo and it was pretty awful. Um and um anyway, so whenever I get in now, they were on and I was like, right, I've got to turn those off, they've got to go off, they can't stay on. Um, and and do you know what? But but because it so it does happen, and I do have it. Um, but if you know how to manage things, you know, you just manage them, don't you? And you just kind of get on with life, and it hasn't stopped me doing anything. I felt a bit dodgy for the rest of the evening, but I wake up the next morning, I was absolutely fine. Um, and I think so. I think when you know what triggers things, I say that makes you know it does make a really, really big difference to you. Uh right, so golf update. Um, have my lesson, had a golf lesson, and I was like to my golf prayer, I was like, right, I'm really struggling with this bit. This isn't quite working. Um, something's not quite right here with my long shot. What am I doing wrong? You know, what's happening? What's going wrong? I'm hitting them right, or I'm doing this, and it's like, right, I say he said, You're lifting the golf club up too high. So I need to just lift it up horizontally. Um, which to be fair, I think I probably was told that at the beginning, but when you're told so many things, you uh you know, only a certain amount of kind of information goes in at one time, doesn't it? Um but now I'm kind of in playing a bit more, so I was kind of really concentrating on lifting it horizontally and then off we go, swinging back through. Um and he said you need to start move thinking about moving, putting your weight as well, weight on the back and then over to the left. So from to the right and then over to the left, horizontal. Well, holding the club in a certain way, a certain grip, and your hand in a certain position, and your arms are this way. So there's a lot, it's quite technical. There's a lot to golf, and uh so anyway, we I got to that and I and I I you know did some okay shots, and then straight after we headed off to the caravan and we went straight off to play golf, and I got like 52, which is quite good, um, because I was getting about sort of 61, 62, 63, something like that. Um, when I first started playing it this course, and so I thought that's pretty good. That's you know, I'm quite happy with that. And then the next day we went again and I got 50, and John got 46. He's like, you're only four points off me. And I was like, so I was like, yeah, I was really pleased with myself. He obviously didn't play particularly well that day, but even so, he's been playing for like five years. I've been playing for when did I start? And not even a year yet. And I'm like, wow, I'm you know, I'm just I'm so happy with like how I'm how I'm doing at that particular sport. Um, and it's a great feeling, isn't it, when you start doing really well at something. Um, yeah, and especially say something new, but it's all about kind of like you know, holding it a certain way um and doing things a certain way. So yeah, so that's kind of been my week. Okay, right. I'm gonna go and see what's going on with the dogs. So I'm gonna leave it there because he's getting a bit agitated and I don't quite know what's happening downstairs. Um, there shouldn't be anybody else in the house. Hopefully there isn't, but we'll soon find out. Okay, right. So um have a great week, everyone, and I'll catch you next time.